13 Star Flags - (1777-1795) (U.S.)

Last modified: 2002-11-16 by rick wyatt
Keywords: thirteen | united states |
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by Mark Sensen, 4 December 1997

• Description of the flag
• Some 13 Star Designs
• 17 Stripe flag on bank note
• 9 Stripe flag

See also:

• History of the Stars and Stripes
• U.S. Historical flags
• United States of America

The thirteen stars and thirteen stripes represented the thirteen original colonies:
Connecticut - Delaware - Georgia - Maryland - Massachusetts - New Hampshire - New Jersey
New York - North Carolina - Pennsylvania - Rhode Island - South Carolina - Virginia

Continental Congress's June 14, 1777 Flag Resolution
by Joe McMillan, 14 June 2000

During the Revolutionary War, numerous flags were used. After the Declaration of Independence was signed on 4 July 1776, the people realized they needed one flag to replace all the assortment of flags used previously. On 14 June 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the following resolution:

"RESOLVED, that the flag of the 13 United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white: That the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation."

Although legend has it that Betsy Ross sewed the first flag from a design by George Washington, this has not been substantiated. The first documented U.S. flag was the staggered star pattern shown above. A strong case for the designer of the first flag is Francis Hopkinson. A delegate from New Jersey to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He submitted a bill to Congress for "currency designs, design for the great seal of the U.S., a treasury seal, a design for the flag ..."

Some of the 13 star flags used are shown below. A link indicates a page about that particular flag in more detail.

Bennington by Rick Wyatt 14 November 1997

Betsy Ross by Mark Sensen 4 December 1997

Cowpens by Rick Wyatt 9 July 2001

Six Pointed Star Design by Steven M. Schroeder 18 November 2000

by Dave Martucci, 6 December 1997

This flag is a "typical" 13 star flag of the early period. Although there were countless variations, this one shows some of the common traits. Specifically, note that the stars point every which way. This was common prior to the last quarter of the 19th century.
Dave Martucci, 6 December 1997

by Devereaux Cannon, 22 February 2000

I have an interest in early forms of the U.S. flag. Yesterday I came across one that is not an actual cloth flag, but is depicted in a vignette on an 1854 banknote of a Tennessee bank. The flag in question has 13 stars, arranged in three rows of 5/3/5. It has a total of 17 stripes, 9 white and 8 red. Also of interest is the extreme length of the flag, which is proportioned approximately 3:1.
Devereaux Cannon, 22 February 2000

by Devereaux Cannon, 19 February 2001

The closest thing I could find is a flag with 13 stars and 9 stripes in "The Stars and The Stripes" by Boleslaw and Marie-Louise D'Otrange Mastai. The flag is in the Mastai Collection, and the book identifies it as a sea captain's flag from the time of the revolution.
Devereaux D. Cannon, Jr., 19 February 2001